Safe Routes To School Programs Gain Traction

The Vienna Town Council voted to support Safe Routes To School travel plans for Cunningham Park and Vienna Elementary Schools at its meeting Monday night, an important step in those schools' pursuit of state funding for sidewalk projects in the community.

Both schools have spent months developing school travel plans, which identify sidewalk and road improvements and other strategies to promote safe travel to their schools.

The Virginia Department of Transportation's (VDOT) Safe Routes to School Program gives grants each year for such programs. It "made money available on short notice" this year, said Dennis Johnson, an engineer with the town. 

"It's a two-part process. The first part is to have a travel plan developed by the school," Johnson said. "Once it's approved by VDOT, the town can apply to implement projects that are in the plan. This [vote] is the first step."

VDOT accepted school travel plans through mid-march for the 2011 grant funding cycle. Schools must submit travel plans in order to obtain grants. Groups from Cunningham Park and Vienna Elementary Schools submitted their plans by the review deadline.

Monday's vote of support will allow the town manager or mayor to execute request forms and recommend specific projects on these lists to Town Council for implementation as funding becomes available.

"[This would allows us to]  mesh their plan with our existing sidewalk plan and identifies that we may have an additional source of funding," Town Manager said.

Jeff Anderson, a parent who currently runs a SRTS program at Wolftrap Elementary School and, a caravan of children and parents commuting on bike to school, said Vienna seems to be a "core nucleus" for SRTS and bike advocacy.  But Fairfax County -- the state's largest school district-- has only netted about $10,000 of the $14 million available to schools through SRTS in Virginia. Areas like Alexandria and Virginia Beach have received around $1 million each in grant money in the past.

"For some reason Fairfax has not adopted SRTS to the level we feel it should," he said.

More grants in town this year could encourage the rest of the county to develop plans for funding, he said.

As part of the presentation, Julia Baum, a sixth grader at Cunningham Park, urged Town Council to support the program. She said it would help kids fight obesity. She and her classmates already "worried about getting good grades" -- they don't need to worry about getting to school safely too, she said.

Vienna Elementary School PTA President Kathy Clark said she looks forward to a day where she and her neighbors can walk their children to school safely on a sidewalk -- instead of in the road, which they must use for the first part of their current walk. She said she hopes by the time the school's kindergarten students are in sixth grade, they will all be able to walk to school on a sidewalk.

"What we love about where we live is the small town community," Clark said. "A big factor contributing to that sense is the walk-ability of the  town. We love it and want to see more of it."

Sean McCall, chairman of the Vienna Elementary School Safe Routes to School Committee, said if either program receives grants, the town will be responsible for deciding which projects will be implemented, taking into account the schools' own travel plans and surveys, along with the town's existing sidewalk project list. The town manager and staff will work on developing grant applications to submit to VDOT by the June 3 deadline.

Both plans suggested implementing crosswalks and stop signs in various locations in their neighborhoods, but the majority of recommendations dealt with absent or missing sidewalks.

Suggested sidewalks in the Cunningham Park Travel Plan include:

• Harmony Circle
• Lullaby Lane
• Melody Lane
• Symphony Court
• Plum St
• Parts of Moore Avenue and DeSale Street

Suggested sidewalks in the Vienna Elementary School Travel Plan include:

• Cherry Street SW, from Courthouse to Cottage
• Cherrty Street SW, from Cottage to East
• Hillcrest Street SW, from Meadow to North, Meadow to Ridge and Ridge to Tapawingo
• Oak Street SW, from Birch to Cottage and Cottage to Center
• Glyndon Street SE from Locust to Cabin, Cabin to Valley
• Spring Street SE from Battle to Moore

Action plans and complete list of sidewalk recommendations from both schools are attached to this article.